Assessing Labour's leadership candidates on practical values

Abstract

As part of its contribution to promoting positive approaches to issues of economy, sustainability, peace and community renewal in relation to the 2015 General Election, Ekklesia developed a set of ten values and principles which we used to assess the claims of competing parties and candidates, and promoted as tools of engagement and discussion. The exercise has now been repeated for each of the contenders in the UK Labour leadership election. This paper, by Virginia Moffatt and Simon Barrow, also situates the debate around Labour in a wider political and social context, looking at the need for a fundamental shift in discourse and action for a more just society and for a politics grounded in civic action and participation.